


Prof. Park Sooyoung's Course: How to Get Kang Seulgi 101

by bad_drive



Category: Red Velvet (K-pop Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, Fluff, Humor, Irene pinning after Seulgi big time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:40:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 19,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22500373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bad_drive/pseuds/bad_drive
Summary: Bae Joohyun is stumped on asking a girl out. But Park Sooyoung is here to save the day... by teaching her exactly how.--Sooyoung loudly smacked the whiteboard with a long ruler, making Joohyun flinch in her seat."Rule number one," Sooyoung slowly said, her wide eyes piercing into Joohyun's soul.The latter almost thought Sooyoung might be able to suck the living force out of her with just a stare of her threatening eyes."Don't, and I repeat, DON'T, ever insult Beyonce in front of her face or around anyone for that matter." Sooyoung rushed over to where Joohyun was sitting and slammed her hands down onto the desk--and wait, where did the ruler go?--and the older girl almost wept at that moment. "She will know and she will never talk to you ever again. AGAIN.""W-Who..who would want to insult the queen anyway...?" Joohyun meekly questioned."Oh, unnie, you never know." Sooyoung gradually backed away from the desk and brightly grinned at the older girl as if she did not give her the fright of her life. "Anyway, let's continue with lesson one of 'How to Get Kang Seulgi 101,' shall we?"
Relationships: Bae Joohyun | Irene/Kang Seulgi
Comments: 6
Kudos: 99





	1. Chapter 1

“Oh, Sooyoung! Y-You have to help me with this, please!”

“But what do I get from this?”

“I can get you anything you want! A year supply of fried chicken? C’mon, I can hook you up with that.”

“I don’t _always_ eat fried chicken, Joohyun unnie. I’m kind of offended you think that.”

“B-But Sooyoung… please….” Joohyun was almost on the floor in front of Sooyoung, kneeling. She was holding onto one of her hands with both of hers, tightly clasping onto it as if the younger girl’s assistance was a matter of life or death for her. “I-I don’t want to say it… but… but… I’m….”

Sooyoung raised a brow, patiently waiting for Joohyun to continue. Joohyun nervously swallowed and her eyes were wildly darting all over the place.

“I’m… _desperate_.”

Sooyoung gasped and yanked her hand back from the older girl, stumbling a few steps from learning that Joohyun had fallen so deep she couldn’t exactly get herself back up with no help.

“Desperate?!” she exclaimed and made a face of disgust. “ _Ugh_ , no wonder the air around you is so murky and just plain terrible!”

“But Sooyoung!” Joohyun practically screamed out in the school hall.

Darn, they were lucky it was after school hours now with no other students to witness this pathetic scene of Joohyun on her knees, begging Sooyoung.

“S-She’s… so cute,” Joohyun said with a small voice, her head dropping down after that revelation. She sat back onto her legs and timidly played with her fingers. “A-And so nice and pretty and—I just want to be with her, okay?!”

“And why are you asking me? Why not Seungwan unnie? Or Jongin oppa? Or even Soojung unnie?”

“I thought you are the most attentive out of all of them…. I mean, you do know everything that Seulgi likes and whatnot, right?”

Sooyoung shrugged her shoulders. “Well, that’s actually Seungwan unnie. She definitely knows everything about Seulgi from what she does in the morning to how she eats some of food to which direction she turns whenever she sneezes— _oh, my God, I actually do know stuff about Seulgi unnie_. A-Am I creepy…?”

“Never mind that, Sooyoung!” Joohyun hastily intercepted before Sooyoung could fall into a slump of her own. She scrambled up to her feet and made her way over to the other girl. “So, what will it be? Will you help me or not?”

Sooyoung heaved a sigh and crossed her arms. She stared at Joohyun for one good, long moment, a string of words flying by her head— _should she do it?_

Well, what was there to lose anyway?

Only Joohyun’s dignity, and none of hers.

Eh.

Sounded great, actually.

“You said a year supply of fried chicken, right?”

**

Kang Seulgi could effortlessly be considered as one of the most desirable girls here at school. However, fortunately for her (and for Joohyun), she was not exactly bombarded by love letters, chocolates, or flowers from her secret admirers. She did have a select few, but at least they were more understandable than the more “rabid” fans of Kim Jongin, who was a third year, the same year as Seulgi. Joohyun, on the other hand, though, could _probably_ say that the boys who _admire_ her were just as delusional and lustful as Jongin’s.

Love letters, heart boxes of chocolates, flowers, explosion boxes of tiny gifts.

_Wait, how exactly did these get inside my locker?_

Joohyun was not able to ponder any longer on that thought when she observed Seulgi gradually strolling down the hall, a hand in her phone with earphones plugged into her ears— _the ears that stuck out more than the average ears, which Joohyun found so darn adorable_. She could watch Seulgi walk all day long if it was not for the latter looking up from the phone and catching her gaze. Seulgi immediately brightened at the sight of her senior by one year and she gently bowed to her before taking off her earphones.

“Hi, Joohyun unnie,” Seulgi softly greeted and stood next to her at her open locker.

 _Wait, wait, wait, I was just taught on how to approach Seulgi, not on what to do when_ she _approaches me!_

“H-Hi, S-Seulgi.”

Great, a blubbering mess.

Just _exactly_ what we need.

Seulgi did not seem to mind, though. She was giggling at the sight of Joohyun hitting her forehead with the palm of her hand.

“Are you heading home right now, unnie?”

Joohyun rubbed the reddening mark on her forehead and glanced back and forth from Seulgi to her locker. Somewhere in the pile of love letters and other gifts were the textbooks that she needed, and she was planning on studying at the library for one of her upcoming exams.

“I was just going to head to the library to get some studying done.”

“Oh, test coming up?”

Joohyun grimaced and nodded. “Yeah, sadly.”

Seulgi hummed and nodded in understanding as well. They awkwardly stood there afterwards, not one of them knowing what to say to continue the conversation.

“Um, well, I was just wondering if we could walk home together, but since you need to study, I’ll leave you be. I’ll see you tomorrow, unnie!”

 _Lesson One Failed_.

Seulgi left and Joohyun banged her head against her locker.

**

“You see, that was an opportunity to get to know Seulgi unnie more.”

“You don’t think I know that?!”

Sooyoung shrugged. “Well, who cares about Biology anyway? Should’ve ditched that study group to walk home with her.”

“I just… I just didn’t expect that she would want to walk home with me all of a sudden!”

“You two are on speaking terms and have mutual friends, a.k.a. me, so it’s actually not all that unusual.”

Joohyun dropped her head against the desk. “If I had _known_ that, Park Sooyoung, wouldn’t you think I walk home with her?”

“Yeah.”

“BUT I DIDN’T KNOW THAT, PARK SOOYOUNG.”

“Oh.” Sooyoung was unfazed from the older girl shouting at her. “…Anyway, let’s just get on with lesson two.”

Joohyun gradually rose from the desk and heaved a heavy sigh while watching Sooyoung write down bullet points on the white board. She propped her arms up on the desk, resting her face on her hands.

“Alright,” Sooyoung started, turning around. She brought up the long ruler to the list of things she had written down.

  * No sudden skin contact
  * No sudden outbursts around her; she might just run away
  * Don’t stare at her for too long; she’ll get creeped out
  * Talk to her first about the positive stuff of her day



“These all seem like very basic understanding on getting to know any person, but trust me when I say that these will fly over your head when you’re head over heels for someone,” Sooyoung stated. “As for the last bullet point, if you just ask someone how their day went, they will tend to focus on the negatives. So just ask her what good things happened to her that day and maybe you’ll see that smile you have fallen for since day one.”


	2. Lesson 2: Ignore the Palpitations

It was after school hours when Joohyun could be seen observing Seulgi from afar. She was sitting on the cemented ledge surrounding the school’s notable, humongous oak tree smack dab in the middle of campus, the grown, green leaves branching off into a canopy over her head. The school’s cafeteria transformed into a dance studio every Tuesday and Thursday. The body-sized mirrors on wheels were placed against the wall opposite of the glass windows, which granted Joohyun the opportunity to witness the upcoming piece the dance team was currently working on.

Seulgi was among the co-ed dance team, acting as one of the best main dancers by being at the front of the line next to the dance captain. Whenever the dance team practiced, Joohyun did not usually find herself sitting here, gawking at Seulgi. However, when an opportunity was granted for her to do so, then it was foolish to reject the offer. Well, Seulgi did not _exactly_ ask her to watch her practice—more so it was Sooyoung who asked her to.

Only because, in Sooyoung’s words, _“Seulgi has one fine body,”_ but it was not like Joohyun was sitting here, waiting for the moment to truly witness the glory that was Seulgi’s body.

No, that was absolutely _not_ the reason.

Not at _all_.

It totally wasn’t when one of the dance moves required everyone to spin and raise their arms above their heads, delivering a smooth and slick body roll right afterwards. Seulgi definitely delivered that move because Joohyun’s eyes were turning into saucers at this point, her jaw slacking and the textbook on her lap almost dropping if it was not for Seulgi abruptly turning around to her direction. Dance practice _just_ finished and now Seulgi was glancing around the campus.

Joohyun blinked out of her trance and hastily made herself appear presentable by properly positioning her textbook back onto her lap and dropping her head to block the view of anyone looking at her flushed face. She could hear the dance team complimenting each other for another good day of practice, and just when she thought everyone had left campus to go home, footsteps directly approached her along with a sweet call of her name.

“Joohyun unnie?”

Said girl unexpectedly glanced up from the textbook her eyes were staring at. Just staring. Not reading. Seulgi was standing a few feet away from her with her hands clutching onto the straps of her backpack that was slinging onto one shoulder; her being from head to toe was glowing with a healthy red and her chest was still heaving from the productivity.

Joohyun was not going to lie—anyone in her position would not dare to deny this, actually—but a flushed, exhausted Seulgi straight out of a dance practice was a sight to behold. She thought anybody else would look quite gross, like a bucket of water was dumped over their heads to replicate the image of an individual drenched with sweat. But Seulgi, although still bearing the perspiration along her hairline, was still very adorable and precious to look at.

Seulgi tilted her head to the side, and a slight smile graced her rosy face. “What are you still doing here, unnie?”

Joohyun was alarmed at the question, staring more at the high ponytail on top of Seulgi’s head instead of looking straight in her eyes.

“I-I, uh,” she stammered and nervously rubbed the pages of her textbook, crinkling them a little bit. “I’m s-studying.”

Seulgi hummed and made way to sit down next to Joohyun. She placed her backpack in between them but lifted a bent leg over the cemented ledge to face the older girl, the other leg swaying ever so lightly against the side of the chilled cement.

“Why are you studying out here when there’s plenty of room in the library?” she asked.

Joohyun looked down at her textbook once again— _what was the point of keeping this open when she couldn’t even understand a lick of a sentence she probably didn’t even read_? She closed it shut and sat it aside before glancing over to Seulgi from the corner of her eyes.

“Uh, um, I thought I’d appreciate the air out here while it’s still sunny.”

“Oh, yeah! It’s supposed to rain the next few days,” Seulgi said and nodded. “Got to prepare for those floods!”

Joohyun nervously chuckled. “Ah, yeah. H-How are you?”

“Oh, I’m doing okay. Not really having the best day, but I’ve been better.”

_Wait, I did that wrong._

_“As for the last bullet point, if you just ask someone how their day went, they will tend to focus on the negatives. So just ask her what good things happened to her that day and maybe you’ll see that smile you have fallen for since day one.”_

_That’s right. Bad things usually outweigh the good things because it takes more of a toll on us._

“Any good things?”

Seulgi raised an eyebrow and hurled a glance elsewhere, visibly pondering about her day. Her lips gradually spread into a small smile and she nodded.

“Dance practice was actually pretty fun today! We’ve been practicing hard lately because we’re competing in two months, but it’s been productive and I like it.”

Joohyun finally turned her body to face Seulgi. “You must really like dancing.”

Seulgi hummed. “Yeah, it’s an outlet for me.”

When her eyes curved into those adorable crescents, Joohyun could practically feel a deep pool of warmth in her chest coursing out to the rest of the veins in her body. Seulgi could do anything—she could smile at her, dance for her, or even embrace her and she would always feel sparks and butterflies, as if her body did not know the correct way to respond to these interactions from a darn crush.

And it was getting difficult for Joohyun to bottle this up in front of someone who did not know the slightest bit of her feelings, but by all the means, it was the crush herself, anyway (because most of the times, those who were crushed on were quite oblivious). Though, she did not have to worry too much about it because Seulgi was not the first person to pop into mind when it came to being well aware of her surroundings. Tons of people had crushes on her, and she would not know until they directly told her, but even at that point she would still be unsure.

Although perceived as clueless sometimes, Joohyun identified it as a loveable charm of hers.

“What about you, unnie? How have you been?”

Joohyun slightly raised an eyebrow at the question returned to her. But she averted her gaze for a moment, a hand creeping up to her chest to feel the erratic beating of her heart.

“I… I’ve been okay…. Better, actually.”

**

“What happened after?”

“N-Nothing…. We went our separate ways; she went home and I went to the library….”

Sooyoung groaned and palmed her forehead. “Why didn’t you go home with her this time around?”

“I-I couldn’t! Not even if I wanted to!”

“And why not?” Sooyoung questioned her as if it was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard.

“Because any longer with her and my heart might’ve exploded from how fast it was beating!”

Sooyoung cooed at her and laughed afterward. “Aww! Look at you, unnie, falling so hard for someone who looks like a lanky bear.”

“Hey, you were the one who said she has a ‘ _fine body_ ’!”

“And I’m not denying that,” Sooyoung spat back. She turned to the whiteboard and smacked the ruler against the first set of words she wrote. “Now, let’s get on with the lesson, and this time you have to ignore what your body is feeling and take it a step further. Otherwise you will get nowhere and continue being in that awkward, small talk stage.”

**

Joohyun had no idea whatsoever how Sooyoung managed to persuade her into waiting around on campus for Seulgi to get out of class.

It was a Friday and usually she would head home during lunch period since she had no class afterwards to attend; however, since Seulgi was still a year younger than her, the junior class still had another hour lecture to pay attention to. She would have ditched this altogether and retreated to her precious, soft bed, but she could not take the nagging, high-pitched voice of Sooyoung’s out the back of her head unless she actually completed this task.

Asking Seulgi out on a _casual_ date.

And by _casual_ , Sooyoung meant bumping-into-her-in-the-hallway-and-acting-surprised-to-see-her-but-ask-her-out-for-a-drink-after type of casual.

Sooyoung did not realize that Joohyun was totally _incapable_ of doing so because she was such a _horrible_ flirt. She would end up in a stammering mess with her cheeks flushed and humiliate herself as a result. Seulgi would laugh at her afterwards and walk away while shaking her head. Joohyun would face palm herself for the nth time in that hallway. And there would be snickering and recording right in her face.

Oh, no, Joohyun couldn’t go through with this to see uneasy videos of her on social media forever.

The worst-case scenarios continued to pop up in her mind and she couldn’t stand the reality of embarrassment from her fellow peers—what more asking a girl out on a “date” with her was not something that was exactly ordinary on this campus.

If Sooyoung was here right now, then she would have smacked Joohyun upside the head with that long ruler of hers that she always somehow had— _actually, it was like magic whenever that wooden stick appeared out of nowhere_. But she wouldn’t because Joohyun was older than her and would have destroyed her ass right then and there.

It irked her how much Sooyoung was having an effect on her even if her presence was not apparent. Her harassing voice lingered in her mind, urging her to fulfill her mission of asking Seulgi out for a drink so she could get this full one-on-one interaction with her to get to know her better.

But it was so difficult for Joohyun because she was typically not the one to ask someone out.

Damn, she gave those boys props for gathering the courage to always ask her out even when they were sweating bullets and stuttering on their words.

This must be how they felt moments prior to asking her out, and she kind of felt guilty at the thought of it because she frequently flat out reject them on the spot.

The school bell rung before Joohyun could dwell on this any longer, and she jumped in her spot out of panic because she now only had about a minute to ask Seulgi out before she stepped off campus to go home. Students were filing out from the halls and she briskly paced down the wide expanse of campus, catching several gazes of admirers passing by her as well as a few of Seulgi’s classmates, who she was able to recognize _not because she saw them all the time_ whenever Seulgi left her classroom.

Definitely not.

It wasn’t like she just happened to know who she sat next to when she passed by her classroom on random days either.

Seulgi appeared in her range of sight with earphones plugged into her ears as per usual. Joohyun was not able to call her name out to garner her attention, but it was not something like her to yell across multiple of heads, anyway. She hastily made her way over to the lonesome Seulgi calmly walking toward the gates and gently tapped her on the shoulder.

Seulgi halted in her tracks and turned around to face her, and when she realized it was Joohyun timidly smiling at her, she rapidly took off her earphones and shot her a bright smile.

“Hi, Joohyun unnie!” she cheerfully greeted. “What are you still doing here? Didn’t you get out earlier?”

“U-Uh, yeah, I was just… heading from…” Joohyun looked behind her and hesitantly stuck a finger out to a random direction, “that way… until I saw you!”

“Oh, did you have to stay behind for a class or somethin’?”

“Y-Yeah! I was… I was just asking my Biology teacher questions!” Joohyun lied.

Seulgi smiled at her anyway. “As studious as ever, huh, unnie? I really like that side of you.”

“O-Oh… thanks….” Joohyun awkwardly rubbed the nape of her neck.

There was a moment of silence until Seulgi scanned her surroundings, observing all the other students walking past them to head back home. She averted her gaze back onto Joohyun who was somehow still standing in front of her but avoiding her stare at all cost.

“Do you… want to walk home together?” Seulgi offered.

Joohyun appeared alarmed and almost immediately nodded her head. “Uh, yeah, that’d be great, actually, since we’re both heading out, right!”

Seulgi chuckled at the mouthful of sentence Joohyun just spewed out and nodded in agreement. The latter, on the other hand, lowered her face and hissed under her breath, mentally hitting herself in the head for becoming easily tongue-tied around her crush.

“It’s hard to believe that you’re older than me when you’re this adorable, unnie,” Seulgi complimented.

Joohyun’s eyes were wide upon the comment and oh, so pure Seulgi was still innocently staring at her, as if what she had just spewed out did not leave her burning up from her chest to her face. She could feel her whole being heating up effortlessly, and if it was this natural to get her flushed, she sure as hell did _not_ want to know what would happen should something _further_ than compliments would do to her.

“H-Hey, I’m still your unnie, you know!” she tried to cover up by lightly scolding the younger.

Seulgi smiled like she usually did, eyes scrunching loveably and small laughter emitting from her throat. It was like she knew Joohyun was harmless. “Shall we get going?”

“Y-Yes, of course.”

She took that step forward to be side-to-side with Seulgi before they began their journey together back home.

Oh, right.

Joohyun _still_ needed to request for more of Seulgi’s company at a café shop down the road. When they started pacing down one of the main roads, she hurled a glance to the side, observing Seulgi who was paying no mind to her but peacefully and comfortably walking next to her. Seulgi was not much of a talker, it seemed. She would have her moments when she would go on and on about a topic, but even then it would be fairly short compared to Sooyoung animatedly talking about her favorite TV show. Joohyun had to tune her out sometimes.

It was actually quite comfortable walking with Seulgi in this silence, basking in the sun and the clear skies hanging above their heads. Joohyun wasn’t talkative herself (sometimes you don’t always have to be talking to maintain a good relationship, you know?).

She could get used to this.

“Say, Seulgi….”

Said girl raised her eyebrows and turned to Joohyun with a noise of acknowledgement, her bright eyes gazing right at her.

“D-Do you,” _already stammering again_ , “Do you want to stop by a café… on the way home?”

“Oh! That would be great, actually! Are we going to the one that opened up a couple months ago?”

Joohyun nodded and Seulgi had a light bounce in her steps now.

“I’ve actually been wanting to try that place for a while, but I never actually had the time to.”

Joohyun warmly smiled at the sight of Seulgi becoming excited for a typical cute café shop.

“We can try it together, then.”


	3. Lesson 3: Clear the Surroundings

The café shop was not like what Joohyun imagined it to be, although it did exceed her expectations on terms of visuals. The shop was wide; several types of tables, be it rectangular, square, or circular, were placed around the shop with different types of chairs surrounding it. The menus were small, thick booklets, looking like a Polaroid scrapbook that Joohyun kept at home on her desk. It was not too crowded despite the fact that the shop had their grand opening a few months ago, and it was also kind of quiet, considering how there were students studying with their laptops shining bright against their faces and textbooks sprawled all over the table they were sitting at.

A waitress donning a cute apron over her casual clothes and a fedora gently resting on her head accompanied them to a table at one of the far corners of the shop. She handed them their menus while they made themselves comfortable on the couches.

“This shop is really cute,” Seulgi muttered as soon as they sat down, her bright eyes wandering the interior to admire the decorations.

Joohyun followed her eyesight to find a couple of shelves filled with books or antique-looking items sitting on top of it, but she gazed back at Seulgi not that long after.

Honestly, she would rather gaze at the being in front of her.

If anyone were to ask her about this shop in the future, then Joohyun would not be able to provide an answer since she was busy staring at Seulgi the whole time. But it wasn’t like anyone would ask her about this place anyway, since almost the whole school understood that she spent most of her life in the library.

“What are you going to order, unnie?” Seulgi asked.

Joohyun broke from her train of thought and noticed that the younger girl was already peering at the menu, flipping through the pages to observe the variety of coffee, teas, and smoothies the shop was offering. She looked down at her closed menu and scrambled to open it to the first page.

“O-Oh, I’m not sure yet,” she said. “Maybe a hot latte?”

Seulgi looked up and propped a hand under her chin. “Like the one with the art, right? I saw a lot of pictures and some of them looked really cute! There is even a bear one.”

“Ah, r-really?” Joohyun’s finger slightly trembled over the page to trace down the latte options. “I think I’ll get a green tea latte.”

Seulgi mentioned something about a lemonade or a chilled coffee that she was debating between the two, but Joohyun was unfortunately too busy attempting to calm down her nervous being. She nodded to whatever Seulgi was saying, hoping that the latter would take it as a sign that she was just being her usual quiet self.

As soon as the waitress from earlier took down their order and took back the menus, Seulgi had both hands propped under her chin now, staring straight at Joohyun since she already took sight of the interior of the shop.

Joohyun was staring at the back of the waitress instead, watching her hide behind the front counter to jot down their order—but it was more like she knew Seulgi was staring at her instead and she wasn’t prepared to return the gaze just yet.

“You’re graduating soon, unnie,” Seulgi mentioned. “Are you excited?”

Joohyun averted her gaze to Seulgi, who was now tilting her head over the back of her two hands. The latter’s gaze was too strong for Joohyun to handle, and it did not help that her eyes were one of the many features that she adored. It might not be as big as hers or it might not have a crease over her eyelids, but it was still charming and intensifying to stare into.

 _Focus at the task at hand, Joohyun!_ she mentally scolded herself.

Sooyoung would have done the same if she was in the same room.

“I’ve been too busy studying to realize graduation is so soon….” Joohyun mumbled.

Seulgi pouted. “You’ve been stressing yourself out too much.”

Given her stubborn, hardworking nature, Joohyun would have believed it was a lie if she told herself that instead. But, yes, she had been studying so much to the point where she woke up with her nose buried in her textbooks sometimes. The stress of maintaining a 4.0 grade point average by the time she graduated (just so she could head to the college of her dream) did become too much to the point where it might even be her lifestyle. But she would lie to herself, saying that she was okay, that she could do this for one more month and she would not have to stress as much as she did in high school when she would be in college (but little did she know, it was going to be the exact same thing).

Having someone else telling her otherwise was a new perspective she wished she didn’t listen to. Hearing it from her junior made it more believable that if someone like Seulgi noticed these signs of stress in her, then the rest of the school would know as well.

But that was education for you.

Stressing out so much to the point where you might not be able to retain this information afterwards just so you could receive proof on a piece of paper that you had been living in academic hell for four years.

“It’s a bit worrisome to see, unnie,” Seulgi remarked, and she frowned a bit. “You should start taking ten to twenty minutes breaks every now and then so you don’t tire yourself out too fast.”

Joohyun wearily smiled. “I know. You don’t have to worry too much about me, Seulgi.”

“But I do,” Seulgi said almost immediately. She dropped her hands onto the table and reached over to grasp onto Joohyun’s folded hands, allowing the latter to feel the warmth emitting from her palms. “Don’t want you to die by the time you walk down to get your diploma.”

“Hey!”

Seulgi retracted her hands when Joohyun made a motion to hit her across the head. She cowered into the couch and giggled behind her hand, demonstrating that her comment was light-hearted, and she only desired the best for her unnie.

“I mean it, though,” she said after recovering from her fit of laughter.

Joohyun stared at her and delivered a small smile, her gaze dropping down onto the table.

Their drinks—a green tea latte and a passion fruit tea lemonade—were placed gently onto their table on top of a rectangular coaster with a small, delightful snack sitting next to it. Joohyun stared down at the steaming mug to find an adorable white art of a bear gracing the green tea latte. The features were small on the art and it reminded her of the girl sitting across from her. She looked up to see Seulgi admiring the mint leaf and the slice of lemon in her orange gradient lemonade with so much awe; it was almost as if Joohyun was watching an adorable kid having their first sips of a new drink.

“Do you have a boyfriend, unnie?”

Joohyun was about to have her first sip of the hot latte when the question was harbored onto her suddenly. She became flustered quite rapidly, almost dropping her mug, but thankfully didn’t. There was that thing about Seulgi, how she would randomly start up a topic after a period of time dedicated to a silent transition. It was unexpected and caught Joohyun off guard almost 90% of the time.

“W-What? Why would you ask me that?”

Seulgi shrugged as if it was an innocent question to ask. “I don’t know. You have a lot of boys interested in you.”

“As do you, Seulgi,” Joohyun shot back. “Do _you_ have a boyfriend?”

Seulgi sat up at the question fired back at her. She laughed through her nose. “No.”

“Interested in someone, perhaps?”

Seulgi made a motion as if she was pondering. “Maybe….”

“W-Who?”

“Secret,” Seulgi replied and warmly smiled at her.

She was halfway finished with her drink when Joohyun barely touched hers. The latter was not going to lie, it was a bit bothersome to know that although Seulgi didn’t have a significant other, she still had some sort of interest in someone. And she desperately wanted to know _wh_ o. Just who in the world was lucky enough to require special attention from Seulgi!

“You never answered my question, unnie.”

“What?”

“You never answered if you have a boyfriend or not,” Seulgi said, her lips wrapping around the bent straw to finish up her lemonade.

“Oh... No…” Joohyun mumbled. “No, I don’t have one….”

She took a sip of her green tea latte, careful not to ruin the bear art.

 _Hm, sweet_.

“But I am interested in someone, too.”

Seulgi raised an eyebrow. “Who?”

Joohyun stared down at the bear art and warmed her cold hands up from the mug.

“Secret.”

Seulgi groaned and leaned back against the couch. “You can’t do that to me, too!”

The older girl averted her gaze to the physical manifestation of her drink. She smiled at how Seulgi was pouting at her with crossed arms, further illustrating how never-ending her loveable being could be.

“Maybe you’ll find out later.”


	4. Lesson 4: Get Out of Your Comfort Zone

Ever since their friendly outing at the café, conversations in between classes or in front of lockers were longer than usual now. Joohyun was usually the one who was posted in front of her own locker, shifting between one huge textbook and another (amidst all the gifts from admirers) for her next class. Seulgi passed by every now and then, and during the times that she did, she made a stop next to her senior and chat her up.

Conversations weren’t anything meaningful. They started off with small talk, asking each other how they were doing for that day, or what class they were going to next. Joohyun knew the conversation wasn’t really going anywhere at that point, but it was something to progress from, considering how they _only_ waved at each other a week ago.

“Hi, unnie!”

Joohyun’s last class of the day was dismissed, and here she was, standing in front of her locker again to put some books away. Seulgi hopped and planted down next to her with a big grin.

“Hi, Seulgi,” Joohyun greeted. She propped a hand against the door of the locker, looking at Seulgi.

“Are you heading home now?” Seulgi asked.

“Not yet.” Joohyun frowned. She wanted nothing more than to ditch the study group for her Biology class, but she desperately needed a good score on her next exam in order to keep her high grade. She pouted at Seulgi. “I have a study group to get to.”

Seulgi mimicked Joohyun’s actions. “Aw, okay. I was going to ask if you wanted to walk home together today.”

Joohyun shot her a small, apologetic smile. “Yeah, not today. Maybe tomorrow!”

Seulgi nodded in response and continued to watch Joohyun finally taking her massive Biology textbook from her locker and shut the door closed right after. The latter noticed as she was leaning against the locker next to hers, head resting against the cool steel, until she abruptly popped right back into a normal stance, slightly startling the older girl.

“Oh, right, unnie!” she exclaimed. “Are you going to the pep rally this weekend?”

Joohyun shifted the book against her chest, clutching it tight. She had not really thought about attending other school activities than the mandatory ones the administration forced them to go to. Pep rallies wasn’t really something that she went to anyway. It wasn’t like she was the one being lifted up high in spirits from it nor was she the one to be cheering on the football team. Well, wasn’t that what cheerleaders were for? Usually the ones who were more into school activities did all that they could to attend whatever events there were held on the weekend. Joohyun wasn’t into any of that—she was graduating soon, so she might as well put in all the time and effort she had into her studies while she still could. The only thing she did to support the school was act as one of the morning announcers during homeroom. She was scheduled to get back on the PA system in a few weeks, but at the moment, nothing school-related aside from her academics should bother her.

“No. I don’t plan to,” she flat out said, raising an eyebrow. “Why do you ask?”

Seulgi’s hands shifted up to the adjustable straps of her backpack to fidget around with it, pulling it up and down on one end or both ends. Joohyun noticed that a lot—how the other girl played around with the straps to adjust her backpack whenever she was asking a question or awaiting a response that was taking unusually long from the other person. It was a cute antic, she noted, and she smiled when Seulgi was committing the action.

“Oh… I was just asking because the dance team is going to be putting up a performance,” she said with a small voice. “And I was going to see if you were going to be there.”

Joohyun’s face lit up.

Was this her crush’s way of asking her to watch her perform?

Seulgi grimaced and pulled onto the adjustable straps, but not hard enough to actually shift the position of the backpack. “I-I just thought it’d be nice to see you… b-but it’s okay, unnie!”

Joohyun could see every second of awkwardness creeping up on Seulgi when she tried to cover up her state by nervously laughing. Joohyun’s teeth pull in her lower lip at the sight of the strong bashfulness emitting from the younger girl.

“Are you asking me to watch you dance, Seulgi?” she asked.

Seulgi lowered her head and Joohyun thought she saw the ears poking out through her hair becoming red. “I-I mean, since you’re not planning to, it’s okay.”

Joohyun smiled. “When is it?”

“H-Huh?” Seulgi’s face warped so quickly into a state of alarm. Her eyes were becoming wider than usual and her jaw was slightly slack. “O-Oh, um, it-it’s this Saturday at 6!”

“And when exactly are you performing? Just so I know I won’t miss it at all.”

“We’re in the second half of the pep rally!” Seulgi piped up, grinning.

Joohyun couldn’t help but smile as well. “I’ll see you then.”

Seulgi lightly bounced on her toes and she energetically nodded her head. “Okay, see you then, unnie! Bye! Have fun studying!”

She turned around and hurried off with the same bounce still in her steps, probably becoming even more noticeable the more she was getting closer to the gates to get off campus. Joohyun continued to watch her retreating figure until Seulgi turned the corner.

The smile slowly diminished until her teeth no longer showed, but her chest felt so warm to know and physically see how nervous the younger girl could get.

As long as Joohyun knew she was not the only one who could become a bumbling mess in front of their crush.

**

“Seulgi asked you to watch her dance at the pep rally!?” Sooyoung exclaimed. “I’m impressed.”

Joohyun raised an eyebrow. “Why? Doesn’t she usually ask her friends to watch her?”

“No, unnie. We come on our own anyway because most of us are in the pep rally,” said Sooyoung. “You just happen to be one of the few people she cares about who’s not doing any extracurriculars.”

“Well, I just thought it was cute the way she asked me,” Joohyun said and smiled. “She was kind of nervous.”

“Ha, as if you weren’t the nervous one a week ago?” deadpanned Sooyoung. “Tables may have turned for you, which is good, but you need to keep it up, unnie.”

“Then, what should I do after the pep rally? Isn’t she going to be hanging out with her dance team afterwards?” asked Joohyun.

Sooyoung leaned back against the teacher’s desk, careful not to move any materials lying on top of it. “Ah, that’s not if you still ask her to hang out. Every team in the pep rally usually hangs out on their own afterwards as some form of bonding, but if you ask to hang out with her, she’s _probably_ going to ditch her team for you.”

Joohyun narrowed her eyes at Sooyoung. “What makes you so sure?”

“She highly respects you, unnie, and you rarely ever go out anyway. Since she asked you out to watch her dance, isn’t it more appropriate that she follows up and hangs out with you afterwards as a way to say thank you?”

Joohyun scratched her neck. “I don’t know…. I feel like she would still choose team bonding. I mean, it’s not often that she gets to do that, right?”

Sooyoung crossed her arms and sighed. “Let’s just hope she’s not dense enough? But ask to hang out with her anyway. Grab dinner somewhere, get a drink, do something. Heck, stay on the bleachers and just talk. Anything that you can do just to get you and her alone.”

Joohyun huffed and leaned back against her chair. “Okay, but what if she says no?”

Sooyoung pushed herself off the desk and paced over to Joohyun. She palmed the desk, gradually leaning down to stare at the other girl.

“There’s a very _slim_ chance that she does,” Sooyoung stated. “But I wouldn’t worry too much in the first place. The fact that Seulgi asked you personally to watch her perform in the pep rally is good enough, but we’re not here for good enough. We can’t just keep settling for _good enough_. We need to push through and make ourselves known and confirm our spots.

“So, if worst comes to worst, which is her basically choosing the dance team over you, then don’t fret about it too much.”

Joohyun lowered her head and sighed.

“Unnie,” Sooyoung said softly, her tone much lighter and calmer than before. Joohyun looked up at her and watched her lean back to cross her arms. “It’ll be okay. See it as another step closer.”

**

Pep rally weekend rolled around and Joohyun found herself treading onto campus when the sun was setting, a sight she rarely ever saw considering how she was usually out of here with the sun high and bright. The entire student body wasn’t always at the pep rallies—it was usually only the groups who partook in it (namely the student council, football team, cheerleaders, and now the dance team) and friends of whoever was in them—so the population was considerably smaller, but still loud enough to get everyone in high spirits.

Joohyun came a little bit late to the pep rally, so she was awkwardly stepping over her peers on the bleachers to sit at a spot where there was barely anyone. No one she knew well enough was on the bleachers, unfortunately. Sooyoung was doing God knows what (she was just not here for darn sure), Seungwan was at home studying for a big test coming up on Monday, Soojung was on the cheerleading team, and Jongin was on the football team. Everyone else she hung out with didn’t care too much about this aspect of school, but she tried not to mind it since she was here for one purpose—Seulgi.

The dance team usually didn’t perform at pep rallies, but for some reason they were asked to put up a performance.

But Joohyun had no right whatsoever to complain. At least not when the dance team situated themselves in the middle of the field and her eyes became saucers at the sight of their clothing. She had no idea how they were able to pass through dress codes and the faculty staff sitting on the first few rows of the bleachers. Crop tops, high-waisted shorts, sleeveless shirts. There was _so_ much skin to the point that Joohyun was surprised a teacher didn’t stop them from even coming onto the field.

Joohyun’s hand crept up to her mouth—a way to minimize the expressions that might come up when the performance started—and she immediately spotted Seulgi positioned somewhere in the front of the formation. The latter’s head was turning here and there, eyes scanning the bleachers and looking visibly distraught until she locked gazes with Joohyun. A bright grin formed quickly and she hopped up and down in her spot, waving high at Joohyun. Joohyun laughed and she lightly waved at her.

At least Seulgi wasn’t wearing _just_ a sleeveless crop top and high-waisted shorts like the rest of the girls on the dance team. Bless the jacket on her back because Joohyun wasn’t sure she’d be able to last to see Seulgi showing a lot of skin while doing movements that would considerably flex her muscles (the same gorgeous muscles she was able to get a peek at during the last few times at practice).

The music started and Seulgi tore her gaze away with a serious expression plastered onto her face almost immediately. There weren’t enough words in the dictionary to explain what kind of sharpness and fluidness Seulgi’s dancing exuded. She wasn’t in front most of the time, she wasn’t the dance captain, who was considerably the best dancer in the whole school by the student body, but to Joohyun, Seulgi was all she could see—she was the best dancer in her eyes, she was the only one whose movements were more fluid, sharp, precise, hard-hitting.

Joohyun was sure she couldn’t be the only one who was in awe watching the choreography. All the whooping and cheering proved her point, hearing the screams of certain name of members of the dance team. If Joohyun was as wild as them, she’d be screaming Seulgi’s name off the top of her head, but she was too star-struck, too in love with the facial expressions that Seulgi illustrated— _and hello, was she biting her lip?_ —too bothered watching how she moved through the field with the choreography she had seen part of before. So, that explained the dance practice they had the other time.

“YAAS, KILL IT, MOMO!”

“SLAY ME, JIMIN!”

“OH, MY GOD, KANG SEULGI!!!!!”

“TAEMIN, I LOVE YOU!”

Joohyun was feeling quite hot by the time the dance team delivered a strong finishing move. The cheers became so much louder than she had ever heard before, and then again, the entire student body wasn’t even present.

The emcees of the pep rally hopped back into the middle of the field with their microphones, and the dance team were ushered off to the side. Joohyun found herself following the only main dancer trotting with the jacket trailing behind her.

They remained in their spots a few sections of the bleachers away until the pep rally officially ended with a well-known school cheer for the football team. They were going to compete in about two more hours at the very same field, and everyone was hoping that the cheering that happened just earlier was able to come back just as loud when the game started.

Everyone started to climb off the bleachers and file out from the field into their cars. Joohyun was one of the few audience members still present on the benches. The cheerleading squad and the football team were heading off in one massive pack—most likely heading to a local diner to replenish their energy for tonight’s game. The dance team was still at the end of the bleachers with a few members talking animatedly and gesturing to head to the lot.

Seulgi looked up to where Joohyun was quietly walking down the steps. The latter noticed her waving at her team and dashing down the bench, carefully climbing up so that she could meet the older girl. Seulgi was on the other side of the extensive rail, but seeing how Joohyun was almost at the end, she gripped tightly onto the bar and leaned over it.

“Unnie!” Her face was still flushed, but she still managed to plaster a big grin on her face like always. Joohyun hated it sometimes how rapidly her chest seemed to warm up at the sight of how ridiculously cute she was. “Did you watch me? How was it? Weren’t we so cool?”

Along the journey to get to Joohyun, Seulgi’s hair splayed all over the place with a few hair strands awkwardly laying on another side of her head. Joohyun lightly giggled and reached over to fix her disheveled appearance.

“You were really cool,” she confessed. “I was in love.”

Joohyun abruptly stopped fixing Seulgi’s hair and immediately took a step back, eyes widening and lips trembling to form up a quick cover up of what she had just stated. Seulgi, on the other hand, didn’t look so different. Her eyes were just as big, and her hands seemed to clutch tighter onto the rail, knuckles turning white.

“I-I-I, I was so awed by h-how well you danced!” Joohyun spewed out. “It-it made me love how your team expressed yourselves. D-Dancing should be appreciated more.”

_Man, if Sooyoung heard what the heck I just said…._

Too bad it was the best her jumbled mind could do at this point. She lowered her head with eyes shut, mentally reprimanding herself. Sooyoung wasn’t here to do it, so she was going to have to scold her stupid self. She knew Seulgi heard her—heck, she was freakin’ loud and clear in this near empty football field. The only thing that was separating them were the rails, and that wasn’t much of a barrier anyway.

Joohyun didn’t even need to have her eyes open to know when Seulgi laughed that god damn adorable laugh of hers, that gorgeous smile was accompanying it. She opened her eyes slowly to look up at the younger girl, ears and face red yet crescent eyes filled with love.

“Thank you, unnie,” she said softly. “I’m glad we were able to make you feel that way.”

Joohyun mustered up all that she could to compose herself. A small smile spread across her face. “You were really good, Seulgi…. I’m amazed how your team isn’t in competitions yet.”

“Hm, maybe next year! We still have a long way to go.”

Seulgi was too humble and precious for her own good to realize how high their dance team’s potential was to rank in the national competitions. But as long as she was enjoying herself, Joohyun believed that even being a part of the team was such an honor for Seulgi.

Amidst Joohyun’s stupidity of a subconscious confession and her failed attempt at trying to cover it up, Joohyun noticed the dance team leaving the field with only one member left behind—the one in front of her.

“Your team is leaving. Shouldn’t you get going?” she asked.

Seulgi stared at them before turning back to Joohyun. “I thought I’d hang out with you instead. Is that okay?”

Joohyun saw this as one of the outcomes for coming to this pep rally, even Sooyoung did all that she could to help her prepare for this moment, but she was still feeling shy and nervous.

The tables have turned once again.

“O-Oh… yes, of course...” Joohyun mumbled.

“Do you… do you want to come over to my house?” asked Seulgi. “We can eat popcorn and watch movies.”

Another smile.

Another scrunch of her eyes.

Joohyun’s chest felt warm, like her heart had so much love to give and continued to spread throughout her veins.

“I-I’d love to.”


	5. Lesson 5: Trust Yourself

“Welcome to the Kang’s humble abode!”

Seulgi stepped into the one-story house with her arms above her head, pacing freely into the living room from the foyer. Joohyun scanned the household, and true enough, Seulgi’s residency was pretty humble and homely. She immediately felt the comfort and warmth her own home gave the second she slipped her shoes off at the foyer, eyes glancing all over the place to find the living room and the kitchen connected. She assumed the hallway straight down from her direction was where the bedrooms and bathrooms were located.

There were family portraits and individual frames of Seulgi, and who Joohyun assumed was her older brother, hanging on the wall of the small hallway from the foyer to the rest of the house. She took the time to stop by Seulgi’s photo and stare—perfect posture, blemishes obviously cleaned up through the use of photoshop, professional clothing, and stiff yet a somewhat pretty smile. It was a photo taken before a school year so that the students had a professional photo on hand, but it was more so for their family members to gush at. Joohyun remembered hers; it was probably somewhere in her mother’s room, most likely on top of her dresser.

“Umma? Appa?” Seulgi called out. She was walking down the main hallway, peeking into rooms on both the left and right side. “Oppa?” She came back with a forefinger scratching her cheek. “I guess no one’s home.”

Joohyun felt tense and her heartbeat started to beat noticeably louder. She wasn’t sure if it was because she didn’t have to meet Seulgi’s family, mustering up a lasting first impression and all, or if it was because she was going to be alone with Seulgi for who knew how long. But sure enough, those two ideas didn’t play well with Joohyun. None of this did, and she didn’t know when she would start to feel less edgy around Seulgi.

“Unnie, you can make yourself feel at home there!” Seulgi pointed at the couch, then gestured to the kitchen afterwards. “I’ll be making popcorn. Do you have any idea of what kind of movie you want to watch?”

Joohyun finally freed herself from the rooted position by the hanging photo frame of Seulgi. She gradually made her way to the three-seater couch, carefully and gently sitting down in the middle seat.

“Um,” she started, fingers playing around with the straps of her bag. “A-Anything but horror, please.”

Joohyun heard Seulgi make some sort of cooing sound, and she could imagine the small pout forming on her lips. A few beeps here and there and Seulgi turned around to palm the edge of the kitchen island, listening to the whirring of the microwave behind her.

“But horror movies are the best!” exclaimed Seulgi. She lightly giggled afterwards. “It’s fine. I’ve actually been meaning to watch this other film for a while now because my friends keep saying it’s so good. Have you seen _10 Things I Hate About You_ yet?”

Joohyun’s ears perked up at the movie title. It had been a good few years since she last seen the movie, considering how it was probably an old classic remake of a Shakespearian play, but she remembered it being one of the best movies she had watched so far.

“Yes, it’s been a while, though, so I don’t remember too much of it,” Joohyun said. “But I’m more than willing to watch it again! I remembered that I really liked it.”

“Oh?” The microwave dinged and Seulgi moved swiftly to retrieve the bag of popcorn from within. Smell of butter and popped kettle lingered in the air, and suddenly Joohyun felt hungry. “Then, all the more reason to watch it!”

After transferring the popcorn into a big, white bowl, Seulgi made her way over to the living room and sat it onto the counter. She hooked up her laptop to the HDMI cable plugged into her TV and opened up the movie that was already on her hard drive.

“You already have the movie, but haven’t watched it yet?” Joohyun asked.

“I couldn’t find the time to. Okay, well, romantic comedy isn’t really my thing so maybe I was trying to put it off as much as I could despite everyone else saying that it was so good,” Seulgi divulged.

Joohyun laughed. Seulgi did seem like the type of girl to invest in action comedy or horror movies. She couldn’t exactly imagine the younger becoming sappy and moody over a love story.

“Well, it is a good movie. I think you’ll like something about it,” said Joohyun.

Seulgi sat her laptop off to the side where it was barely seen and not acting as a distractor when watching the movie. “If unnie says so, then it must be really good,” Seulgi said and shot her a smile, pacing around the living room to turn off the lights and swipe the bowl of popcorn off the table before plopping down next to Joohyun.

“Oh, I forgot,” Seulgi whispered when the movie intro was playing. “Are you cold? I can get some blankets for us.”

Temperature was probably the last thing on her mind right now, but as soon as Seulgi mentioned it, it became a tiny bit colder because of nighttime. But she felt bad having to send the younger off to fetch some blankets when the movie just started, and she had been setting up this night for them for the past ten minutes.

“I think I’ll be okay.” She sat her bag off to the side and propped up her legs, arms wrapped around her knees. But then she looked down at Seulgi’s clothes and noticed that she was still in her dancing outfit, midriff and legs bare for all to see—well, just Joohyun in this case. The lights were turned off, but every time the movie flashed to a bright screen, the lights bounced off of Seulgi and accentuated certain parts of her exposed body. She desperately wanted to grab each flap of her jacket to pull it over, gradually losing some senses over the sight of her being. “B-But what about you? Aren’t you cold?”

Seulgi looked down at herself after popping a few popcorns into her mouth. “I’m fine. I have a naturally warm body.”

They both left it at that, finally turning all of their attention to the movie. The bowl of popcorn was on Seulgi’s lap and it was of easy reach for the both of them, but Joohyun still became so shy when trying to grab a few pieces. Maybe it was because she had seen this movie before, but she couldn’t focus her whole attention onto it, instead wondering about what if her hand accidentally touched Seulgi’s in the popcorn bowl; what if there was some risqué scene in the movie that she forgotten about and she would have to suffer through it, pondering what Seulgi would be feeling in that moment—was she going to be hot and bothered like Joohyun usually was during hot scenes or was she going to remain comfortable? – what _if_ Seulgi did something to her during the movie?

She mentally laughed at herself for even thinking about the last part. Seulgi was too precious and innocent to even do actions like that before committing to a relationship, and she was also very much dead set focused on the movie.

Joohyun probably should have thought about what if she herself accidentally pulled some unusual shenanigan on Seulgi?

No.

She would panic and flip out before it even happened.

Or maybe when it did happen, her anxiety would get the best of her and she would still end up making herself look like a fool.

One way or another, it was not going to end well if Joohyun got this sudden surge of braveness to take another step further.

But that was the thing—despite Seulgi’s evident nervousness earlier this week, that was the only thing Joohyun had on hand for potential evidence of Seulgi’s reciprocation.

Did Seulgi like her the way that she liked her?

Did Seulgi even have an ounce of love oozing out from her that was romantically meant for Joohyun?

They had spent some time together, but it was obvious that it was as friends. Two individuals who were coming together to forge a deeper bond between each other in terms of friendship.

Joohyun hated this, hated how vague and enigmatic Seulgi could be sometimes, especially when it came to relationships. No one actually knew of her past experience, that was if she had any, and no one knew of any crushes that she might have.

Wait.

Seulgi did say the other time at the café that she was secretly crushing on someone. Well, _maybe_ , but that was still some possibility.

Just remembering it again felt as though Irene’s heart was falling to the pit of her stomach.

She was starting to feel uncomfortable once again.

“I-I have to go to the restroom,” she announced a little bit louder than usual, slightly shocking Seulgi who was putting a popcorn into her mouth.

“Oh, okay. It’s down the hall to the right,” said Seulgi.

Joohyun jumped up immediately and weaved her way around in the darkness, walking into the pitch-black hallway. Her hand ran against the wall before she reached a doorknob, opening it slowly to make sure it was the bathroom. Once the light flickered on and all she saw were the bare necessities of a bathroom, she hopped right in and locked the door behind her.

Joohyun reached down to her pocket and fished out her phone, thumbs shaking over her screen to dial up a number that she had only been calling as of late besides her mother.

The dial tone rang for what Joohyun felt were long, excruciatingly painful moments.

It was by the fifth dial tone where she grew more anxious than before, tapping the tips of her fingers against the tiled sink counter.

“Please… pick up!”

The dial tone ceased for a muffled noise to emit from the phone.

_“Yes, unnie? Did Seulgi ditch you for her team or somethin’?”_

“N-No!” she said quite loudly, but she felt a tiny bit relieved that Sooyoung finally picked up the phone. The air became thick and the silence was unbearable. She wondered if Seulgi could hear her, so she made her way over to the toilet, pushed down the seat cover, and sat on it. “I-I’m, I’m at Seulgi’s house…”

_“What! Damn, unnie, are you already scoring with Seulgi!?”_

“No, no, no, that’s not what we’re going to do at all!” Joohyun exclaimed. She thought her voice was becoming louder, so she cupped her mouth over the phone. “I’m freaking out here, Sooyoung. You have to help me.”

_“What are you freaking out about? Do you want to leave? Because I don’t think you should if you still want to be with Seulgi. This is a huge step right here.”_

“No… I don’t want to leave,” said Joohyun. “It’s just… it’s just us two alone and we’re watching a movie and I have no idea when her parents or brother are going to walk in on us.”

_“So, you’re just feeling a bit jittery about this?”_

“I don’t know if it’s a _bit_ , Sooyoung. M-My heart feels like it’s going to explode. Maybe it’s because I know for sure that it’s just me and her and no one else around, and knowing how stupid I can get when I’m in love, I’m afraid I might accidentally do something I’ll regret.”

 _“Are you going to regret doing it, or are you going to regret_ not _doing it?”_

Joohyun sighed and clutched onto her head. “I don’t know. I-I don’t know anything. Sooyoung, I’m scared.”

There was silence on the other end of the phone. Sooyoung was not as playful and demanding as she usually was when they had their lessons at an empty classroom. Sure, the concept of getting Kang Seulgi once and for all was such a beautiful idea—being with your long-time crush and feeling the rush of adrenaline all the time—but Joohyun was just finally realizing how terrifying it was to think about getting rejected.

She hadn’t felt this way about someone for a very, _very_ long time—actually, this might as well be the first time she was acting like a lovesick puppy around her and only Sooyoung knew about it. But she was starting to second guess herself.

Was this a good idea?

Was chasing after Seulgi something that would last long?

Did Seulgi _even like girls!?_

“S-S-Should I still go for her?”

_“What do you think?”_

“I-I don’t know what I think, Sooyoung! That’s why I’m calling you! I don’t even know if I’ll be able to finally settle with someone I love so much,” Joohyun huffed out. “I… I love her so much, Sooyoung, and it’s starting to hurt now thinking about all the possibilities that she may not end up feeling the same at all.”

Joohyun could hear Sooyoung shuffle around on the other end of the line. It was eerily much quieter now, and she assumed that Sooyoung moved locations.

_“Don’t stop.”_

“W-What?”

_“Keep going for her.”_

“Are you sure…? What if I… what if one of us gets hurt? I don’t want to lose her, Sooyoung. If I know that Seulgi will never like me like that, then I’m more than happy with just being her friend…”

_Even though I don’t really want to…._

Sooyoung audibly sighed. _“Listen, unnie. I’ll be honest with you, I have no freaking clue what each outcome is every time we have you do something. I don’t know if Seulgi is going to act out differently than what I have imagined, I don’t know if Seulgi is worth your time chasing after in the long run. But that’s what love is. You don’t know everything, and anything can be unexpected. You just have to act accordingly and prepare for the best and for the worst._

_“But what I do know is that you love Seulgi a lot right now. You love her so much that you’re willing to get out of your comfort zone to do anything that you can to be with her, and honestly, that’s admirable of you. Yes, rejection is still a possibility, but it’s better to live knowing that you gave an effort rather than not knowing at all.”_

This was why Joohyun called Sooyoung.

The latter might be a pain in the ass sometimes, but Joohyun understood exactly why she asked her for help than anyone else who was close with Seulgi.

Sooyoung was confident in her abilities to help out other people, she was actually just confident in general, but she also knew the limitations and the reality of what might be the outcomes of certain situations.

Maybe that was what Joohyun needed at this moment.

Confidence.

Braveness.

Knowing that everything would be okay despite what happened.

It was not like it was the end of the world here.

_“Just live life in the moment, unnie. As you let life take its course, guide it the way that you want it to go.”_

Joohyun heaved a sigh.

“Okay.” She did feel a whole lot better talking to Sooyoung now. “Thank you, Sooyoung.”

 _“Any time, unnie,”_ Sooyoung said, and she cackled. _“Now, hurry up out there before Seulgi bursts through thinking you fell in the toilet.”_

**

“Is everything okay, unnie?”

Joohyun had her phone clutched tightly in her hand when she finally stepped out back into reality. Seulgi was scrolling through her phone, probably looking at social media apps while waiting for Joohyun. The latter noticed that she paused the movie at the same exact spot when she left, and there was a thick blanket on the couch now.

“Y-Yeah, sorry. My stomach started hurting out of nowhere.”

Seulgi frowned. “Do you need medicine or anything? I think we have something for stomach pains.”

Joohyun smiled at the younger’s concern. She sat down next to Seulgi and was immediately blanketed with warmth when Seulgi flicked the covers up to rest on the both of them.

“I’m fine, thank you.”

“Hm, okay. Let me know if you need anything, unnie.”

Seulgi resumed the movie, and they both settled back into the couch, feeling warm and cozy with the comfortable material of the couch and the warmth of the thick blanket.

They were most likely finished with half of the movie by now when Joohyun recognized a scene where the two main characters, _Kat_ and _Patrick_ , were on a date at a paint throwing field. She shifted around in her position, gradually leaning toward Seulgi to find a more comfortable position. Her head gently rested against Seulgi’s shoulder, and she waited a little bit, sensing if there was a sign of shock or protest from the younger girl, but the latter remained still. If anything, she might have moved a tiny bit so that they were both in a more relaxed position.

 _Kat_ and _Patrick_ were running around in the field in their white jumpsuits, hands reaching into their bags for the balls filled with paint. They looked like they were having so much fun, and Joohyun subconsciously smiled, thinking about how it would be if she and Seulgi were the ones having a fun date instead. _Kat_ and _Patrick_ ended up falling onto a pile of haystack, bodies and hairs soiled with paint, yet eyes filled with so much affection. They shared a kiss, and Joohyun wondered what kind of reaction Seulgi had upon seeing that scene.

There wasn’t any audible reaction from Seulgi when the scene transitioned. She probably wasn’t thinking too much about it, or maybe she was and probably thought the scene was grossly cute. Joohyun shifted a tiny bit more in her spot, angling her body to Seulgi so that her chest was somewhat pressing against Seulgi’s right arm.

Seulgi peered down at her. “Do you want to lay down so that we’re more comfortable?”

“Oh, I, uh, no i-it’s okay.”

Seulgi smiled and placed the almost empty popcorn bowl back onto the table. “Come on, lay down. I kind of need to stretch out my legs.”

Joohyun did as she said and laid on her side, but what she didn’t expect was for Seulgi to lay down _behind_ her. Seulgi adjusted the blanket on top of them so that it was covering them from head to toe. Joohyun thought she had an arm propped up so that she could watch the movie from behind her, while the other hand was lying mindlessly on top of her side.

Joohyun hoped Seulgi didn’t hear it and that the movie was loud enough to mask it, but her breathing was becoming more erratic the more her anxiousness built up. Seulgi was behind her, bodies snugged against each other on a couch meant for three people to _sit_ on. She could feel every inch of her body touching Seulgi’s own, and her mind wandered off to wonder how this position would be if she was actually facing Seulgi instead.

“Are you comfortable?” Seulgi whispered into her ear.

Shivers ran up her spine and she couldn’t trust herself to speak, so Joohyun nodded.

A quarter more of the movie was finished. Joohyun could feel Seulgi shifting behind so that she could loosen up the tensed muscles in her propped arm. She felt a pillow gently touching the back of her head and realized that Seulgi placed a pillow against the armrest so that she could lay her head down at a more elevated angle than Joohyun.

Joohyun gulped a lump in her throat, still very much hyperaware that Seulgi was behind her. Then, as if her body thought that she could handle more bodily contact, she became so much tenser when Seulgi’s arm gently fell over her body, hand resting in front of her stomach.

She carefully looked behind her to see that Seulgi had fallen asleep, and she immediately softened at the sight.

Poor girl might have been exhausted practicing days upon days to execute a synchronized, wonderful dance performance earlier today. She took the opportunity to let the movie continue rolling to the end and gently turned around so that she was facing Seulgi.

Seulgi’s skin was so clear and fair, her cheeks look unimaginably soft, and her pink lips were slightly parted. With her eyes closed, she looked so much more serene, so much more like an adorable baby bear that Joohyun always thought she looked like.

Joohyun looked down at Seulgi’s mouth and reached out to gently trace her lips with her thumb.

Oh, how she wondered what Seulgi’s lips would feel like against her own. Must be soft, fluttery, and explosive beyond her imagination.

She desperately wanted to take advantage and press her mouth against Seulgi’s, to finally feel a part of her, but she decided against it. It would not be right. Her first kiss with Seulgi would be when the latter was conscious and when her feelings were reciprocated.

So, she decided to move much closer and brush her lips against Seulgi’s forehead instead, a smile creeping up on her face right afterwards.

Joohyun already knew how the movie ended, and she closed her eyes, heart clenched and chest warm with Seulgi’s arm around her.


	6. Review Session

Was it obvious?

How unusually jittery she was?

How much her hands had been shaking and how her lips had been trembling all day?

If people could read her thoughts, if people could even _see_ her thoughts, they would pin her as someone who was borderline psycho, deserving to be in a therapist’s room.

Maybe even call her obsessed.

No one bothered to outright question Joohyun’s state except for Sooyoung. The former was fidgeting once again, thumbs twiddling with one another in folded hands. Knees were shaking. Teeth were clamping down on a lower lip.

Joohyun looked like someone who got caught putting her hand in the cookie jar when she wasn’t supposed to, and now she was facing the consequences.

“You are acting so much stranger than usual,” stated Sooyoung.

So, it _was_ obvious.

“…Have I?”

Sooyoung shot Joohyun an incredulous look, almost like the latter was ridiculous for even trying to confirm that question. Her whole being was already confirming it, so there wasn’t any need for her words other than the explanation for this state.

“What happened after that night at Seulgi’s place?”

It had been two days since.

Two days of unusual jitteriness—except that today it was much more apparent for some odd reason. Maybe it was because there was an exceptionally high likelihood of bumping into the dancer since that night.

“I…” Joohyun started. “We… fell asleep together on the couch.”

Sooyoung crossed her arms. “Is that all?”

“No, I… we…”

**

It felt like one of those moments where Joohyun could sleep in much to her heart’s content, but the discomfort of her sleeping position was so apparent. She couldn’t even ignore this feeling, and she finally opened her eyes, trying to take in the view. Her eyes immediately wandered about the unfamiliar setting and saw a blank TV screen.

But she felt so warm.

And suddenly she was aware of something in front of her stomach.

And the hot breath hitting the back of her neck.

And the bare legs brushing up against hers when there was a sign of movement.

In the middle of their sleep, the blanket seemed to have slithered off of their body and threatened to fall down onto the floor if it wasn’t for Joohyun’s grip onto one end of the thick material.

Joohyun wasn’t aware how she managed to flip back to their normal position when the movie was still rolling. She remembered falling asleep looking at Seulgi, so she carefully turned back to see the girl in question still very much sound asleep.

What a heavy sleeper.

A cute heavy sleeper, though.

All feelings of discomfort were suddenly lost at the sight of the younger girl, chest heaving slightly, light snores emitting through her parted lips.

It was a wonder how she did not move an inch at all last night.

Actually, it was a wonder how she was still sleeping.

Joohyun thought it must be some time in the afternoon right now, judging by how warm the living room was and how much sunlight was peering through the windows.

But she remained on the couch next to Seulgi, and she didn’t even want to leave, wanting to think of it as an excuse that a lack thereof of Seulgi’s hold was preventing her from moving away.

And she stared, stared, and stared.

Unaware of the light padding of footsteps coming her way.

“Ah, one of you is finally awake now, huh?”

It was almost as if the glass shattered for Joohyun, a surge of electricity running through her body before uncomfortably settling in her chest to make her blood pump unusually fast. Her lifeless body jolted awake and instinctively moved away from Seulgi, sitting up on her ass to look at whoever dared interrupt her “watching.”

_Oh,_ it was Seulgi’s mom.

At least she thought so by the sight of her short perm and motherly expression, and the familiarity of Seulgi’s facial features.

She forgot about her and Seulgi being alone last night, that her parents and brother weren’t home yet.

Oh, _God_ , what had they seen?

What were they thinking?

What was Seulgi’s mom thinking _right now_?

Joohyun shook and clutched tightly onto the blanket against her chest. “Um, h-hi, Mrs. Kang. I’m sorry, it’s not exactly what you t-think….”

Seulgi’s mom raised her eyebrow. “Not what I think? You’re telling me you’re not Seulgi’s girlfriend?”

Joohyun heated up. “N-No! No, we’re not… we’re not like that. I just… we were watching a movie last night and we just fell asleep together…”

Mrs. Kang didn’t seem to buy it. She walked around to the back of the couch and swung a heavy hand onto Seulgi’s bottom. Seulgi jolted awake, as if she got doused by a bucket of ice cold water, and winced at the pain, whining at her mother for rudely disturbing her sleep.

“Umma! What was that for!?”

“That’s for falling asleep on the couch with your friend. You should’ve at least slept in your room!” Mrs. Kang scolded. “You know how much I don’t like it when you sleep on the couch, you always end up hurting your back one way or another.”

“But, umma, I’m fine sleeping here.” Seulgi was pouting while also rubbing her bottom. She was sure going to have a bright red mark there in a few moments.

“I-I’m sorry! We didn’t mean to fall asleep,” Joohyun interjected. She stood up from the couch and rummaged around for her belongings. Just where was that darn bag of hers… “I-I don’t mean to intrude anymore. I’m sorry, I’ll leave.”

“Wait, Joohyun unnie—”

“You’re staying here, young lady.” Joohyun became rooted in her position, wide eyes staring at Mrs. Kang who had her fists digging into her wide hips. “ _So_ , you’re ‘Joohyun unnie,’ huh?”

Joohyun darted her eyes from Mrs. Kang to Seulgi, not sure whether to respond to the mockery or not. But then she swore she saw a split second of fear in Seulgi’s eyes before the younger girl jumped from the couch and rushed over to her mother.

“N-No, umma! Don’t talk—”

Seulgi’s mom slapped Seulgi’s mouth. “Oh, hush, Seulgi. I’m not going to do anything bad here. Why do you think of your mom like that?” She pushed Seulgi around to the hallway. “Go wash yourself up and get your brother to help prepare lunch.”

Joohyun observed the hesitance in Seulgi’s being, her legs dragging across the living room to quickly head to her room. The latter shot her an apologetic look. She didn’t even bother trying to fight her mother against it.

As soon as the door to Seulgi’s room was audibly shut, Seulgi’s mom seemed to have noticeably loosened up.

“Joohyun?”

Said girl’s ears perked up. She gently nodded. “Y-Yes, Mrs. Kang.”

Seulgi’s mom smiled for the first time, and it was so much like Seulgi’s warm smile, like it was able to give her the amount of comfort she needed. Seulgi looked just like her mom.

“Seulgi has told me so much about you,” she said, and Joohyun became puzzled.

_Me?_

_Why was Seulgi talking about me?_

“I-I’m sorry?”

“Ah,” Mrs. Kang started, slumping down onto the couch, to which Joohyun followed suit as well. She figured this might be awhile, and it’d be quite rude to leave at this point. “Thank you so much for being a good unnie to my little daughter.”

Joohyun wanted to laugh out of incredulity. What actions had taken place for her to be suddenly placed on high regard? What did Seulgi talk about every day when she returned home, when she was sitting at the table for dinner with her family, when her mother asked her about what happened at school that day?

Surely, she had somehow been brought up in conversations. She didn’t think of any other reason as to why Mrs. Kang knew of her.

But why?

“Sorry, Mrs. Kang, but you must’ve mistaken me for someone else?”

Mrs. Kang shook her head immediately. “Oh, no. You’re definitely the one Seulgi keeps talking about. I’m happy that she is finally able to settle down with someone as beautiful as you, although I am kind of surprised that you’re her girlfriend and—”

“W-Wait, Mrs. Kang, I-I’m not Seulgi’s girl—”

“Oh, hush, little one,” Mrs. Kang interrupted. She reached forward to hold onto Joohyun’s hands, which were on her lap. “I’ll be frank, having grown up in a traditional household, I was very worried when I heard about how much Seulgi likes this senior in her school, and a girl, at that. As a mother, one of my biggest worries for my children were them bringing home some lad or gal and doing things that—”

Joohyun blushed. “P-Please, Mrs. Kang, we didn’t do any of that, and I’m not her—”

“Oh, I know you two wouldn’t! Seulgi’s still too much of my baby girl to think about doing those things. Did you know she was fourteen and didn’t know anything about kissing?”

Wait.

_Really_?

Mrs. Kang laughed, and when her face scrunched up so that her eyes were forming small curves of crescents, she was suddenly reminded of Seulgi’s adorable laugh.

“But, yes, as I was saying, Joohyun,” she continued, thumb gently stroking the back of Joohyun’s hand. “Seully here talks so much about you whenever I ask her about her day. It’s one thing to worry about my daughter’s relationship, but it’s another to worry about her happiness. Despite all traditions and beliefs, all I really want for my daughter is to be happy, and you seem to be doing a good job at that—with how much she smiles talking about you and what you two did that day.”

Mrs. Kang rambled on and on about Seulgi, but Joohyun wasn’t exactly listening anymore.

To be the sole source of Seulgi’s happiness, to be someone who was constantly talked about to her parents at the dinner table, to be the reason for the warm smiles.

Joohyun felt her chest constricting.

She couldn’t breathe.

This was getting too much for her.

She thought she was the only one receiving a form of happiness just being around her crush (at this point, it was not even a crush anymore, actually), but to know that feelings were being reciprocated made her feel like she was on cloud nine, that she was finally at the top of the world all her other friends had ventured off to and stuck their own flag down onto the ground, that she could finally take on anything. It was her turn to stick her flag now.

But then again, this was coming from a secondary source and not from the main girl in question.

Joohyun couldn’t fully immerse herself into bliss just yet, but just thinking about it because someone else said it made the incessant pounding in her head bearable.

Mrs. Kang whipped her head around to the sound of Seulgi’s door opening, and there emerged Seulgi in a fresh set of casual clothes with a wet head of hair.

“Well.” Mrs. Kang stood up and made her way over to the kitchen. “I’m going to start making lunch now. Joohyun, would you care to join us?”

Joohyun was still in a trance, cheeks flushed and head pounding. Was her chest beating just as hard, too? She placed a hand over her heart.

Yeah.

Seulgi stopped before her and placed Joohyun’s bag, which was next to the coffee table, onto the couch. “Unnie, do you want to join us for lunch?”

“O-Oh.” Joohyun finally snapped out of her reverie, looking up at Seulgi, who was drying the ends of her hair with a towel. “I, um… I don’t think I should. My parents are probably worried about me.”

“Oh, it’s no big deal! Let me call them and tell them what happened,” Mrs. Kang hollered from the kitchen.

Joohyun smiled. As much as she would like to stay, her heart probably wouldn’t do well by the end of lunch with all of this new information pouring in. Heck, she just slept and woke up next to Seulgi. Things need to be taken slower here for Joohyun to calm down.

“Thank you, Mrs. Kang, but I really need to get going. Perhaps next time?”

Mrs. Kang was banging pots and pans here and there, grabbing all the ingredients she needed from the refrigerator. She was expertly maneuvering around the kitchen like it was her territory—which it was.

“Ay, fine. Have a great rest of your day, okay, Joohyun?” She stopped her busy body to shoot a smile at said girl. “Seully, go walk your girlfriend out.”

“U-Umma, s-she’s not my g-girlfriend…”

“ _Mhmm_.”

Seulgi still walked Joohyun to the front door anyway. The latter could feel the stare on her back as she slipped on her shoes, balancing on one leg to tie her shoelaces.

“Sorry for falling asleep last night,” Seulgi said.

Joohyun planted her foot back onto the ground. She lifted her shoulder, adjusting the bag straps so that it was secure from falling.

“It’s okay.” Joohyun smiled. She wasn’t sure if it was because the house was beginning to heat up from Mrs. Kang’s cooking, but there was a faint trace of crimson on Seulgi’s cheeks. “I had fun spending time with you anyway.”

Seulgi nodded and grinned. Ah, there was the smile Joohyun fell in love with.

“See you Monday, then, unnie.”

“See you.”

When Joohyun stepped down onto the sidewalk, hurling a glance over her shoulder to see Seulgi waving at her from the front door, a smile was still playing on her lips as she made her merry way down the street.

She hadn’t thought about asking Seulgi whatever her mother said earlier.

For now, she would have to bask into this newfound bliss.

**

Sooyoung was _just_ looking at her.

Wait.

Shouldn’t she be freaking out just like how she was, except showing it off more externally with flailing arms and boisterous screams?

Instead her arms were still crossed, and she was leaning against the whiteboard. She placed the marker down onto the small shelf at the bottom of the board.

“I don’t think you need my help anymore, unnie.”

“W-Wait, no, I still do! What are you saying?”

“You know, Seulgi unnie has been crushing on you for a long time, too,” Sooyoung divulged, and she cackled at the sight of Joohyun’s disbelief. “What, don’t believe me?”  
“U-Um, yeah, I don’t? What are you even on about? I think I’m pretty sure our entire friend group knows of _me_ crushing on Seulgi, not the other way around.”

Yeah, she wasn’t really discreet about her liking Seulgi these past few weeks. Everyone had some sort of inkling about it, but they never straight out said anything. It was like it was an unspoken rule to not talk about friends crushing on other friends until they eventually end up together. _That_ was when they could start whooping and hollering about them.

But Seulgi and Joohyun had yet to still reach that stage.

“They do. Everyone knows but Seulgi.”

Oblivious bear.

Of course, she wouldn’t.

“And now that you _finally_ know, there’s nothing else left for you to do but become her girlfriend. I don’t think you can do anything remarkably wrong from here on out for her to suddenly think differently about you.”

Oh, Sooyoung.

_Had you not been paying attention this past month?_ Joohyun could get _pretty_ ridiculous.

“Wait… if you knew all this time that Seulgi likes me… why didn’t you tell me from the start? This whole thing wouldn’t have had to happen.”

Sooyoung laughed. “What’s the fun in telling you from the start? With you asking for my help, you get to have Seulgi unnie, and I get to have chicken!”

“You _used_ me for chicken!?”

“Excuse me, I think _you_ used me to get Seulgi unnie.”

“And might I add that it only somewhat made me feel so much more anxious than ever before?”

Sooyoung pushed herself off of the whiteboard and made her way over to the distraught Joohyun.

“Wasn’t it worth it, though?” she asked. “Going through all of this and knowing that the situation played out nicely in the end.”

_Yeah._

_I didn’t like what I felt._

_But…_

_Yeah._

“All that is left for you to do is to finally ask her.”

Joohyun lowered her head.

Right… they weren’t together just yet. All she could think about right now was the anxiety she was going to feel again leading up to the moment where she would spew those words out to Seulgi.

“B-But how…? Can’t you just help me out once more?”

Sooyoung shook her head. “I’m all out of lessons, unnie. Now it’s time to take the final.”

A final that she was sure she would not ever want to think about failing.

Joohyun sighed.

Sooyoung was right.

Everything from here on out had to be done on her own accord. Having Sooyoung assist with finally asking out Seulgi would not seem genuine—she had to be the one to think of how, where, and when to ask her. All she had to do was review and put the lessons into play.


	7. The Final

Constantly being around someone, acting intimate with someone, or even expressing interest solely in that someone didn’t mean that you were suddenly void of all love confessions.

Seulgi stared blankly at the love letters pouring out from her locker the second she opened it. The stack of letters, that she was amazed was even able to slip through the tiny slits of her locker door, slipped down onto the ground and dispersed on impact.

_Sigh_.

She remembered a persistent person who would leave her letters on the days that she would have dance practice. They were all signed as “anonymous,” but it didn’t take a genius to know that they were all coming from an individual by the likes of the same pastel blue envelopes and signature pink rose stamp on the front above the words, “ _To my love: Seulgi_.”

Not wanting to seem rude, even in the privacy of her room, she would read all of the advances from her peers on campus. Some were asking her out to a date. Some were asking her to be her girlfriend. Some were asking to meet her in secrecy by “x” day at “x” place. But she still ended up ignoring them all together in the end, thinking of worst case scenarios if she was to suddenly respond to their advances. Regardless if the response was positive or negative, these admirers would still bask in the glory of receiving attention from their almighty crush.

Jung Soojung replied to one of her confessions once, but only because they were getting bothersome and would not stop filling up the cheerleader’s poor locker with thick envelopes and cartons of chocolate. As much as Soojung loved eating sweets and chocolates of all kinds, she had a diet to maintain for being on the cheerleading team and always ended up sharing it with the others at the lunch table. But with those thoughts aside, when she finally replied to one of the latest love confessions she had from a very strong-minded and persistent boy, she taped the response onto her own locker, thinking that the admirer would surely see it the next day when he would continue his conquest on getting Soojung’s love.

He saw it, alright, and made a scene by running down the locker hallway with the letter up high, screaming, “Soojung responded to me! Soojung responded to me!”

It didn’t stop Choi Minho with the love letters. In fact, it only encouraged him more because Soojung finally noticed him, and being noticed meant that he was able to somehow continue his advances.

Jongin had to step in once and for all, unfortunately, declaring him as Soojung’s “boyfriend” to the persistent Minho in person.

If there was one good thing that came out of that, it was that Jongin finally realized his feelings for Soojung and legitimately became her boyfriend.

So, having witnessed and heard of Soojung’s method of trying to get rid one of her confessors, Seulgi found it in herself to ignore all of them. It increased ever since the day of the dance team’s performance at the pep rally, but more so from the same pastel blue envelopes.

When she bent down to pick up the fallen love letters, she noticed from her peripheral a pair of hands stacking them up as well.

“Oh, thank you…” Seulgi glanced at the newcomer. “…Jimin.”

Jimin smiled at her, eyes disappearing almost instantaneously. He handed the stack. “No problem. Got a lot of confessions there, huh? I got a few myself the other day.”

“Yeah. They just can’t seem to stop,” she said, stuffing the letters back into her locker in a fashion where they would not fall when she opened her locker next time.

“Hm, I think it’s nice—feeling wanted and admired by other people,” he said, peering inside Seulgi’s locker. “You have a lot of the same color. Are they from the same person?”

“Most likely.” Seulgi shut her locker closed. She forgot why she opened it in the first place—love letters replacing her initial need. Did she need a textbook? “Anyway, are you heading home now?”

Jimin scanned his surroundings before landing his hard gaze on her. He was gripping onto the straps of his _Herschel_ backpack tightly, an embellished pink rose pin tacked onto the left strap just slightly above his hand.

“Actually, I wanted to ask you something.” Seulgi raised an eyebrow, small, polite smile playing on her lips and waiting for her fellow dance member to continue. “There’s that dance coming up and I was wondering if you wanted to… go together?”

Oh.

The dance.

The _horrendous_ dance the school administration put up every year as one of the festivity requirements they had to fulfill. She would much rather go to the school carnival that occurred her first year instead of the dance because playing arcade games and enjoying booths of food was much more enjoyable, but some reason they thought having students mingling with each other in the gym, which could get grossly humid, was a better idea.

Once she first heard the dance announced over the PA system, she didn’t even think about going at all. As much as she liked dancing, having it at the gym wasn’t her cup of tea.

“Oh, I—”

“ _Seulgi-yah, Seulgi!”_

Seulgi perked up at the sound of the unusually cheerful yet familiar sounding voice rounding from the corner. She and Jimin turned to where the bubbly voice was coming from, spotting a petite, grinning girl popping out from one of the connected hallways merging into the locker hallway.

Joohyun saw Seulgi first, big, fat grin widening by the second, but at the sight of a not-so-familiar boy standing beside her, it immediately dropped.

“Joohyun unnie!” Seulgi exclaimed, and Joohyun reverted her gaze back to Seulgi, the smile somewhat forcing its way back onto her lips. The dancer turned to Jimin. “Um, sorry, Jimin, but I have to go!”

“O-Oh, okay…”

Seulgi rushed over to Joohyun and linked her arm with her, briskly pulling her back into the connected hallway that the latter came out from.

“Who was that boy?” Joohyun immediately asked when he was out of earshot. She probably did not mean to drop her tone so low, so venomous, but Seulgi picked up on it anyway. “Is he your friend?”

“We’re on the dance team together,” Seulgi said, their pace gradually coming down to a normal one. She had no idea why she was pulling Joohyun back to the direction where the latter came from, but as long as she was able to be with her. “Why?”

Joohyun hurled a quick glance at the taller girl. “Just wondering.”

“ _Hm_ , okay.”

“What?” Joohyun raised an eyebrow. “I was _really_ wondering.”

“And I said, ‘okay,’ unnie,” Seulgi replied, smiling.

Joohyun didn’t seem convinced in the slightest, but she chose to drop the topic anyway, by the sight of her remaining silent for the duration of their walk in the quiet hallway. All they could hear for a moment were the light scruffs of their heels brushing against the tiled floors.

“Oh, right!” Joohyun halted in her tracks, hand still gripping onto Seulgi. The latter turned around at the sudden exclamation. “I have to head to the PA room really quickly. Do you have to go home right away?”

Seulgi immediately shook her head. “I can go with you.”

“Okay!” Joohyun piped up, automatically jumping on the chance to drag Seulgi by the arm again to the announcement room. “I accidentally left my book there yesterday and didn’t remember until now.”

That was right—Joohyun was one of the announcers of the school. So far the administration only allows seniors to take on the role, grabbing at least two or three well-liked individuals to make announcements during certain periods of times, usually homeroom. The principal mentioned something about the student body would be more willing to listen and take action if announcements were made by people of their own age rather than hearing a grumpy, monotone voice every day.

As if they didn’t get enough of that already.

But Seulgi couldn’t agree any more with their choice of appointing Joohyun as one of the school’s announcers. Her voice was soft and soothing—like she was caressing your ears and whispering sweet nothings.

_Unnie should start an ASMR channel_ , Seulgi thought.

She would listen to her all day.

It was too bad she hadn’t been making announcements lately compared to the other two, though, for some reason unknown to Seulgi. She just recently got back on the job.

They reached the PA room, blindly walking into a dark setting with their only source of light coming from the small tinkles of red and green on the boxes of machines that were pushed against the far side of the wall. Joohyun led them more into the room, expertly weaving her way around as if she had been here one too many times in the dark.

A thin streak of sunlight peers through from the top where a lonesome window was plastered, shining down onto a table with a microphone, headphones, and strewn of white papers. The announcement table, Seulgi assumed.

As Joohyun busied herself by rummaging around the table for her textbook, Seulgi scanned her surroundings, drinking in the sight of the PA room as much as her eyes could allow. This side of the room was pretty bare, it seemed, and Seulgi wondered what more it could look like with the lights on. But they were just coming in and out for a minute or two, so she didn’t really dwell on it any longer, and settled her gaze back onto a hunched over Joohyun, sunlight painting one side of her face with a glow.

_Beautiful_.

Dust particles might be the other thing in sight, but all Seulgi could see was how much more ethereal Joohyun looked with the rays shining down on her. The sun made her features glow, made her eyelashes seemingly much longer and her side profile one of the most attractive things Seulgi had ever seen.

Joohyun tucked a fallen hair strand behind her slightly protruding ear, and Seulgi’s heart stopped.

She truly _was_ the epitome of beauty.

“…Where is that book?”

Seulgi didn’t even think about helping Joohyun look for her book. She was still in a trance, eyes fixating onto Joohyun as much as she could without getting caught. It was one of the few times that she could anyway because lately Joohyun had been looking at her way too often for her to do the same without being questioned. She didn’t even ask why Joohyun had been doing so, thinking of it as a trait of hers to have eyes on others as some form of compromise for her lack of words.

Her gaze darted elsewhere immediately when Joohyun faced her direction. In her range of sight, albeit just a plain, white wall, was an outline of a few textbooks on the floor. Joohyun’s book might be in that pile, but Seulgi didn’t say anything in regard to it, and averted her eyes back onto the older girl, who was now sitting down onto the black rolling chair after hunching over the table for too long.

“Okay, I swear I left it here the other day,” Joohyun muttered. “Sorry, Seulgi. There’s like, stacks of papers all over the place.”

Seulgi didn’t mind, but they probably had been lingering around longer than planned.

“Is that it?” she asked, pointing to the stack of books behind Joohyun. It had to be, considering that nothing else in the room was thick enough to contain multiple pages like a Biology textbook.

Joohyun swiveled around in her chair and gasped at the sight, hands slapping her thighs out of exasperation. She padded her way and bent down to retrieve the second book of the stack— _Biology_.

“Yeah, it is!” Seulgi smiled at the sight of Joohyun heaving the hefty book into the crook of her arm. “I was about to freak out… I have a test next week.”

“I doubt anyone would want to steal it anyway.”

Joohyun raised an eyebrow. “You never know. This book can sell for hundreds! I heard books are super expensive in college now.”

Oh, right.

_College_.

The next destination for Joohyun once the school year was over.

Seulgi almost forgot that graduation was closing in, that Joohyun was soon going to be in a cap and gown, receiving her diploma, that Joohyun was going to embark on a new journey, become busier, get new friends, _maybe find a boyfriend_. She still had one more year in this hellhole before she could follow Joohyun’s footsteps, but that was one year too late. One year suddenly seemed too big of a difference to her now.

“You’re graduating soon…”

Last time Seulgi said that, she was the excited one.

Now it just seemed too good to be true, for her voice was a mere whisper, almost like a sudden realization hit her to know that she was going to be _Joohyun-less_ next year.

A corner of Joohyun’s mouth tugged up with minimal effort. They were still in the PA room, whirring of the sound equipment on the other side suddenly so loud to Seulgi’s ears. The sunlight was gradually dissipating and turning into the orange afternoon glow, indicating that it was near evening time, but Joohyun was now slightly leaning on the edge of the table and Seulgi had been rooted in her spot in front of her since the elder started digging around.

“Yeah…” Joohyun finally said. “It’s just two weeks away.”

“…Are you… excited?”

“Funny. The last time you asked me that, I wasn’t really aware that I was graduating soon.” Joohyun lifted the Biology textbook in her hands. “ _This_ kept me from thinking that and still is.”

“So, I take it that you’re still as stressful as ever, huh, unnie.”

Joohyun cracked a giggle into the empty PA room. Small and sweet sounding yet loud and fighting against the constant noise from the machines.

“I’ve been… I’ve been okay… actually.”

Joohyun sat the textbook down onto the table behind her and looked up at Seulgi, who still hadn’t moved an inch, yet her eyes had been darting all over the place. It felt intense—Joohyun’s stare. She was doing it again. How she couldn’t seem to do anything but stare. How she couldn’t really look at her while talking. It was like she had to do one or the other, rarely ever both.

And Seulgi didn’t really know why, only thinking of it as Joohyun’s just being as attentive as ever or carefully thinking about her word choices.

“Seulgi, I… I have something to tell you.”

“Yes?”

Seulgi noticed how Joohyun shifted around and her gaze was elsewhere now. As per usual.

Joohyun scraped her teeth against her lower lip before clearing her throat, hands coming up to grab onto her elbows, crossing her arms in such a fashion where it looked like she was shielding herself.

“Last Friday… when we watched a movie at your house…” she started, leg now bouncing up and down lightly. “Or Saturday morning, actually… I forgot that I stayed over.” A smile etched across her face. “Um… your mom talked to me when you left to shower and… um…”

“ _Oh, God_ ,” Seulgi quietly interjected, but Joohyun heard it and stopped talking immediately, orbs shooting back to the younger. As if all the force suddenly rushed down onto Seulgi’s being, she was finally ripped away from her frozen state and took a step toward Joohyun. “Do you know _everything_?”  
“E-Everything? Like… what…?”

“O-Oh…”

Seulgi mindlessly paced around in her spot, a hand reaching up to rub onto her head. She should had known how big of a mouth her mother had! It was already a sign of how much her mother loved gossiping when she would be talking on the house phone after cooking dinner, laughing loudly every now and then as she ranted about her children, someone else’s children, or her husband. There was one time where she went on and on about her brother’s little mishap as a child that probably should have been kept just among the Kang family. It was pretty embarrassing. Nowadays whenever their mother’s friends came along and saw Seulgi’s brother, they would coo at him and ask about his bed sheets.

So, whatever Seulgi had been telling her mother the past few weeks suddenly rained down onto her, and she regretted it.

“My mom told you about me,” Seulgi said inaudibly. “Right?”  
Joohyun was clenching her jaw now. Her hands released its hold on the elbows, curling her fingers around the ends of her skirt.

“Yes.”

Seulgi winced and closed her eyes. She needed some sort of support, a comfort of any kind, but she opted to gripping tightly onto her backpack straps, forcing herself a few steps away from Joohyun just in case she needed to bolt out first, if anything.

Oh, _God_ , Joohyun should know by now.

She should know how much of a little schoolgirl crush she had on her unnie. The days that she came home with a smile on her face, a curious, questioning gaze from her mother, she ended up spilling whatever happened that day to her. She felt comfortable letting her mother know about whatever made her feel so alive that day, whether it was dancing, receiving high marks on exams, or going on a friendly date with the one person she truly had feelings for at this very moment.

But she didn’t expect Joohyun to know so soon. Actually, she didn’t even expect her to know at all.

“I-I’m sorry, unnie,” Seulgi stammered, feet already pointing to the direction of the door. “I… you can just forget about what my mom said. I can kind of guess how you feel about it. I mean, it’s not every day you get to know about someone liking you, right?”

Silly Seulgi.

Of course, Joohyun didn’t feel that way.

This should’ve remained a secret between herself and her mother.

It was probably that day where they slept together on the couch that made Mrs. Kang think of them as an item, and that it was probably okay to spill all the beans about how this started off as a small, little crush on a senior. But now the crush had grown immensely to the point where she could barely form coherent, clear sentences around her sometimes.

Seulgi would’ve been fine just basking in this crush all by herself—fine with the very slim chance of Joohyun reciprocating.

But now that she knew, it was as if all her walls had broken down, as if the heaviest, shiniest armor on her back suddenly broke, leaving her vulnerable enough for a jab, which could be easily done by a mere flick of a pair of dark orbs or carefully chosen words.

All by Joohyun.

But Seulgi, as much as a closeted coward she was, was going to make this opportunity to escape and cope until the next day where she was better mentally and could take any damage that day before heading back home to do the same routine again. It was not healthy… always thinking of Joohyun, always imagining herself next to her, but then quickly reverting that thought to thinking that she didn’t deserve to even be with her, that Joohyun was obviously going to like someone else her own age, in her own league— _just_ someone who was not seen as a junior.

“I’m… I’m going to get going now, unnie. It’s getting dark.” Seulgi’s voice slightly faltered no matter how hard she tried to muster up a strong front.

She took a few steps in the dark but was suddenly tug back into position.

“W-Wait, you—y-you didn’t, you didn’t even let me finish talking!” Joohyun sounded too much like a broken record, fingers shaking yet gripping tightly around Seulgi’s wrist. When Seulgi hurled a glance over her shoulder, Joohyun’s head was lowered, ridding of any chances to look at her face. “Did you even ask _me_ how I feel...?”

“What?”

“You’re so quick to assume my feelings, but you didn’t even ask me!” Seulgi could feel Joohyun’s grip around her wrist tightening by the second. She fully turned around to face Joohyun, whose body was now slightly shaking, but her head was still lowered.

“Unnie, I—”

“I like you…” Joohyun shook her head. “N-no, I… I love you.”

The whirring of the sound equipment came back to life, but it was not as noisy. Instead, all Seulgi could feel was her heart beating rapidly against her chest, blood pumping and coursing through her veins. Her head was pounding like it wanted to split apart—she couldn’t really hear anything now, couldn’t hear her own breathing, couldn’t hear Joohyun’s quiet whimpering.

Joohyun shakenly released her hold on Seulgi’s wrist only to bring it up to her face. Seulgi’s waiting for the elder to continue, to maybe, in the dark depths at the back of her possibly cruel mind, to say that this was a joke, that it was a way for her to immediately shut up. Well, if it was, Seulgi was shut up, all right. At that moment, all she could think about were endless opportunities of Seulgi and Joohyun being together as an official pair. But it was quickly scratched out of her mind because Joohyun usually didn’t burst out like that. That was Seulgi’s job.

“U-Unnie, what…?”

Joohyun clutched at her chest and said in a whisper, like she was talking to herself more than anything, “ _God_ , my chest feels like it’s going to explode…” She heaved a heavy sigh, attempting to calm herself down before wiping away her tears again. “I-I didn’t expect to confess like that.”

_I didn’t expect to be confessed_ to _like that…_

Seulgi didn’t exactly know how to feel—this all came too suddenly, rushing down onto her like a wildfire that started from a mere spark. She was too focused on her own well-being and trying to think of methods of healing herself from all worst possible scenarios, but never did she expect for her own feelings to be returned in a manner of scattered words and lowered gazes.

All in a dark PA room, so to say.

“I’ve liked you… for as long as I can remember,” Joohyun started to explain. “It’s not hard to notice someone like you, you know…? With the fact that you’re on the dance team… hanging around in the same circle of friends… You’ve caught my eye almost immediately with how… how… just how you are—always smiling, laughing, playing around. Our friends… we’re usually just so mean to each other—for fun, of course—but you’re always so nice and cheerful. It’s no wonder why people like you so much. Of course, I wasn’t able to escape from that either.

“Your mom told me I’m someone who makes you happy… I’m the one you talk to her about when you come home after a long day of school and dance practice. When she said that to me, I couldn’t help but flip out in joy—all in my head, of course. To hear that from someone, from their own mom, that the person you like also likes you back is reassuring, you know…? Granted that was probably not the way I expected to know about my feelings being returned, but… whatever works.”

It was quiet again, save for Joohyun’s less erratic breathing now. The sun was still coming down and the light almost dissipated into nothing, turning the PA room into the state of near pitch black. They couldn’t really see each other in this light, but the words and the tension in the air was just enough for them to guess what the other was thinking or feeling.

Although at this point, Joohyun probably didn’t.

“S-Say something…? Anything…? Please?”

Seulgi opted to reach out and gently grab Joohyun by her slim waist, not exactly trusting herself to say anything in case she rambled off and jumped to conclusions once again, and pulled her into her own tensed body. The elder’s breathing hitched upon contact, hands carefully settling onto Seulgi’s backpack.

_Unnie likes me._

_Unnie likes me._

_Oh, my God… unnie likes me!_

_Joohyun unnie…_

_Joohyun unnie…_ likes _me…_

Seulgi’s arms fully wrapped around Joohyun’s small frame, pulling her even closer into her own body. She buried her face in Joohyun’s silky hair, breathing it in, breathing ­ _her_ in, smelling of sweet flowers.

This had to be too good to be true.

So, she tightened her hold even more to the point it might be a bear-crushing hug, but Joohyun didn’t seem to mind, only gripping tightly onto the backpack now, almost as if she wanted it off.

“Well, you know already… but I like you, too.”

Joohyun had been breathing on her neck ever since, but as soon as those words came out of Seulgi’s mouth, the breathing became more apparent, as if a smile cracked over her lips. The elder lifted her face and strongly tugged onto the backpack.

Oh, right. She had been wearing it this entire time. Seulgi broke off the embrace and threw her backpack off to the side, hands finding its way around Joohyun again.

She breathed. “ _God…_ I like you so much.”

There were a pair of dainty hands lifting her face away from Joohyun’s hair, caressing her burning cheeks, thumbs stroking over smooth bones. What was left of the sunlight managed to peer gently over the side of Joohyun’s face, granting Seulgi the view of what looked like an aftermath of a confession—tear brimmed eyes and remnants on fair cheeks, only to be ruined by streams once again. She still looked beautiful, nonetheless. Her dark brown orbs, which were recovering from a state of red, burning fear, were now gazing gently into Seulgi’s own, loving her in the most absolute pure way that Joohyun could.

“Seulgi…” she whispered. Her eyes slightly blinked, but tears were still flowing. “B-Be my girlfriend…?”

Seulgi broke out into a bright grin. She wiped away Joohyun’s tears and tucked the loose, messy hair strands behind her ears, once again giving her a personal view of the beautiful face that could work wonders.

Joohyun was a wonder in of itself, though.

“Of course, unnie… I’ll definitely be yours.”

A tearful smile etched across before disappearing into the crook of Seulgi’s neck, hands gripping oh, so tightly onto the back of her shirt. They remained in that position for a few more moments until the sun decided to make way for the moon, blinding their vision of the small trek back to the door.

**

“You’re awfully cheery today.”

The setting was no longer a classroom, but Sooyoung would always remain to be the make-believe professor she was days before.

She managed to catch Joohyun on the way to the next class of the day, eyebrows raised and tone suspicious.

“Am I?” Joohyun replied, toothy grin and all.

“Um, yes? What’s up with you, unnie?”

Joohyun turned to her. “I passed the _final_.”

Sooyoung stopped dead in her tracks, but Joohyun didn’t seem to care, smiling so wide as she continued to walk down the hall.

“Wait, what!? Unnie, you passed what!?” Sooyoung chased her down the second she walked faster. “Hold up! You have to tell me everything! You have to tell me where you did it, what you said, how she reacted! DID YOU TWO KISS!?”

“Yah, Park Sooyoung! You’re too loud!”

Sooyoung stopped the chase. Joohyun was walking too fast for her at this point, so all she could do was make her voice be heard.

“Wait a second here… WHERE’S MY CHICKEN!?”


End file.
